Groton selectmen told about changes to senior work program

GROTON -- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has mandated that all elderly volunteer workers be charged income tax on their earnings.

Town Accountant Patricia DuFresne gave the news to the Board of Selectmen at their meeting Tuesday.

According to DuFresne, although the state government still considers the $500 abatement on property taxes earned by the town's senior citizens as part of its Senior Work Off Program as nontaxable, the IRS has decided that it constitutes income and needs to be taxed.

As a result, the 38 seniors enrolled in the program, in which they work at town offices filing records and stuffing envelopes, will now need to be handled as wage-earning employees instead of volunteers, which involves from filling out forms and going through identity checks to being issued W2 forms.

DuFresne told selectmen that the town had no option but to comply.

To have $500 shaved off their property taxes, seniors who volunteer for the program need to be at least 60 and earn no more than $65,000 a year for singles and $70,000 for couples.

After the volunteers become employees, they will not earn the full $500 abatement they had to start. Federal-income taxes on that amount, said DuFresne, comes to about $50, reducing the abatement to $450.

Selectmen mulled increasing the abatement earnings to $550 so that the income-tax deduction would not affect the seniors' bottom line.

Another option, said DuFresne, would be to drop the program and have Town Meeting vote to grant all seniors meeting the requirements a $500 abatement the way it has for the blind and veterans.

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Board of Assessors member Rena Swezey, however, balked at the suggestion, and said giving the abatement to every senior in town and not just the handful who volunteered could put a crimp in the town's revenue stream.

Another solution might be to lower the maximum yearly earning requirement and use the savings for fewer volunteers to pay for the extra taxes demanded by the IRS.

Board Chairman Stuart Schulman asked Town Manager Mark Haddad if a complaint could be sent to U.S. Rep. Nicki Tsongas and Sen. Elizabeth Warren to see if they could do anything, but Haddad doubted they could.

Selectmen asked DuFresne to meet with the volunteers to find out how they feel about the situation and how many would remain in the program if they had to become townemployees.

Then the town accountant would meet again with the board at which point, selectmen would decide what to do next.

Also Tuesday, the board:

* Voted to set the date for annual Town Meeting for Monday, April 22 with April 23 and Monday, April 29 for second and third sessions if needed.

* Voted to move the site of town elections for Precincts 2 and 3 from the middle school to the former Prescott School. Their decision however was tentative depending on how the school works out in upcoming elections.

* Voted to appoint Haddad to the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District's Business Manager Search Committee. The committee is being formed to find a replacement for Gerry Martin, the district's departing director of business and finance. Haddad served on a previous committee that chose Martin three years ago.

* Learned that the ET & L Corp. had been signed to conduct the job of removing and replacing Fitch's Bridge. Appropriations for the work were approved at a special Town Meeting with the existing bridge scheduled to be removed May 1. According to Haddad, from that point, plans for its replacement and delivery and installation of the new span would take another 10 weeks. Haddad guessed that the project should be completed by July 31.

* Learned that TLT had won the bidding process to become general contractor for construction of the new $7,734,000 Center Fire Station along Farmers Row. Haddad told selectmen that a contract with the company is expected to be signed over the next 30 days and assured them that the town's interests would be adequately protected. Work on the new building is expected to begin in the spring.

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